Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
Felix is a successful director of a major Canadian
Theatre Festival (Think Stratford) who is victimized and fired by ambitious
members of his governing board just as he is planning a revolutionary
production of The Tempest. He spends several
years afterward as a hermit all the while carrying on with the imaginary
presence of his own dead daughter named Miranda. Finally comes a sudden
opportunity to lead an experimental theatre program in a prison (Think a remote
island). He is successful over the next
few year and then decides to mount the production of The Tempest he had been working on when he was fired, He recruits the actress who he had wanted to cast
as Miranda in his ill fated production of years ago to now play Miranda in this
prison setting. Then a marvelous coincidence puts his old enemies within reach
(Think a shipwreck). His thirst for
revenge has been rekindled. And thereby hangs the tale.
Familiarity with Shakespeare’s The Tempest is not required, but it does help deepen and fill out
the story. Anyone with a love for
theatre will enjoy the re-creation of these two parallel worlds by award
winning author of The Handmaid’s Tale.
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